WAITING times for treatment in Wales must be addressed urgently, the Royal College of Surgeons has warned.

Recent figures have shown that patients in the Hywel Dda Health Board area are waiting longer than patients in other areas for treatment with Hywel Dda failing to hit targets on patients receiving treatment within 26 or 36 weeks.

While Hywel Dda was the worst performing board in Wales, other health boards are also struggling to meet the treatment target times with the RCS warning that changes to health services across Wales are needed.

Tim Havard, the RCS director of professional affairs for Wales who is a consultant general surgeon, said: “Much more needs to be done to tackle deteriorating waiting times in Wales.

“The equivalent of one in seven Welsh people are awaiting treatment and there is no sign of this improving. The 26 and 36 week planned surgery targets are not being met. Instances of patients waiting over a year for knee surgery should not be tolerated.

“While there have been a number of important initiatives from the Welsh Government, such as ‘prudent healthcare’, addressing the need to avoid unnecessary treatment, demand continues to grow.

“Many of the causes of high waiting times are complex and will not be solved overnight, but the focus given to tackling high waiting times in heart surgery demonstrates the NHS can improve access when this is made a priority."

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